About this time last year, I determined to live as though I had been given only 365 days to live. I pointed out:
“I could not afford to waste any time. My bucket list would be overhauled from, “someday I would like to have a Phd. in Music,” to “what information and knowledge do I need, right now, to make better music?”
I love studios, microphones and stages. There were still songs unsung and stages untaken. I wasn’t given time to get there solo; but knew I might get there by joining forces with a few talented friends.
January, February, March, and April were a whirl of music as a quartet formed, blended, melded; musically, spiritually in intimate friendship. We sang for a full day of Valentines – and ate and drank our profits. It was almost magic.
And then abruptly, we dissolved. Too much busyness of life and too much baggage caught up and it was time for me to go.
While singing solo may be daunting; Eighty-eight keys are more manageable addressed by one. I received much needed musical fulfillment from playing over 21 pop/folk piano gigs at local retirement residences. There again, as 2013 advances, I will stay until it’s time for me to go.
Writing, when seen through the lens of 365 days to live, also takes a shift. “I want to be published, and achieve a certain amount of acclaim,” becomes, “I want to write my heart, get it all on paper, for the benefit of those who follow after and the great conversation.”
While I did more writing in 2012, I am not sure I finished everything that needed to be written. I cut 20,000 words of raw truth from a 60,000 manuscript and added better fiction; reworking several chapters into short stories. I continued to write for Examiner.com, finding that the shear exercise and accountability of writing to curséd specifications was growing me as a writer. For a few days, I was hugely inspired by the idea of re-releasing The Pancake Cat – complete with illustrations by Andrea. All these dreams may come to fruition in the coming year; along with other completed manuscripts; but they did not reach the finish line in 2012.
We are three days into 2013. Here I will stay until it’s time for me to go.